The day began with tours of the building and the grounds given by Olivia Georgia, Executive Director of the BMA; Sergio Bessa, Director of Education at the BMA; Jim Crocker, Director of Housing for the Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council; and Davon Russell, Director of Youth Programs at WHEDCO. While on the tours, students sketched details of the façade and other architectural elements (such as doors, windows, steps). They also took note of any trees, shrubs, and plants they wanted to preserve in their re-design of the landscape. (Click on the picture for the full image.)

Here is what the kids were asked to do:

The Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council (MBSCC) has invited your firm to enter a competition to redesign the Andrew Freedman Home.

This beautiful mansion was built in 1924 by Andrew Freedman, a rich New York businessman. Mr. Freedman built the house so that other rich people who had lost their money for one reason or another would have a place to live.

Here is the challenge for your design team: come up with a new use for both the inside and the grounds of the Home. (Because the Home is a historic landmark, the “façade,” or “face,” of the building will stay the same.)

Any changes you make to the inside of the Home have to be connected to any changes you make to the grounds around it. In other words, what the team does to the inside has to match up with what the team suggests for the outside so that everything, including the façade, looks and feels “right.”

Then, when you're done, you are going to have to convince a panel made up of people from the MBSCC and the Bronx Borough President's office that they should chose your team’s ideas over all the others.

The teachers divided the 90 kids into teams, and each team got down to business.

On to the Agenda for the Day.